The Footie Thread

[PaulMdj]

Well, there isn't one sadly so keep wishing. If he isn't fit to play the third group game then he shouldn't have been in the squad. It'll have to be Trippier in that case. Why the hell didn't we bring Tyrick Mitchell? Did he just feel he had too many Palace players as it is??

Or even the left footed Branthwaite! Another wonderful decision by Southgate to leave them both behind.

 

[Orikoru]

I’m not convinced with Gordon, if we are going to change that slot I’d go with Watkins or even Palmer.

Gordon can be a headless chicken at times and defensively suspect.

As I said in the other post - Palmer playing there will just be the same issue as Foden playing there, he'll want to be in the middle. He never played on the left once for Chelsea last season.

I don't mind the idea of Watkins playing there though. I mean, he hasn't played there at club level since around 2019, but on the plus side you can see him getting into the box when Kane is outside or on the edge of it.

Edit: Somehow we have an entire squad with no left-sided players. Shaw and Gordon, that's it. Tell me again why he didn't bring Grealish?? I'd be starting him at this point if he was there.

 

[PaulMdj]

As I said in the other post - Palmer playing there will just be the same issue as Foden playing there, he'll want to be in the middle. He never played on the left once for Chelsea last season.

I don't mind the idea of Watkins playing there though. I mean, he hasn't played there at club level since around 2019, but on the plus side you can see him getting into the box when Kane is outside or on the edge of it.

More about playing with 2 upfront and not 2 out n out wide players, that gives 4 across the midfield.

Bellingham, Foden, Rice then an other is good enough to take on any midfield.

 

[Orikoru]

More about playing with 2 upfront and not 2 out n out wide players, that gives 4 across the midfield.

Bellingham, Foden, Rice then an other is good enough to take on any midfield.

I don't think he's going to play 4-4-2. Nobody really plays that these days.

 

[PaulMdj]

I don't think he's going to play 4-4-2. Nobody really plays that these days.

It wouldn’t be rigid and just because no one plays it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work.

Rice dropping deep 5-3-2

Foden pushing on 4-3-3




Just seen this description of England.

Michelin star ingredients, Happy eater chef

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I don't think Foden is out of position - he has played on the left frequently for City. The difference though is that City are playing 4-3-3 when he does, so with nobody playing number 10 he can drift into that space. And Haaland stays up on the defensive line. England playing 4-2-3-1, he drifts inside and finds Bellingham already there, and Kane dropping into the space as well, so the three of them are on each other's toes. That's why I'd bring Bellingham deeper and just let Foden be the number 10.

Grealish or Doku play wide left for City. Foden is either central or has licence to roam. He isn't stuck out wide.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

On the left back front, it's a shame that Southgate didn't take a punt on Lewis Hall at Newcastle. Young player but highly rated, never let Newcastle down. I'm certainly not claiming he is better than Shaw but he is a fit left back, naturally left footed, so in the current circumstance he could have been part of the squad. Judge him in training, might have been worth it.

Would give a better balance than what we have now.

 

[Orikoru]

Grealish or Doku play wide left for City. Foden is either central or has licence to roam. He isn't stuck out wide.

He still played on the left 12 times last season: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/phil-foden/leistungsdaten/spieler/406635

And 23 times the season before.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

He still played on the left 12 times last season: https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/phil-foden/leistungsdaten/spieler/406635

And 23 times the season before.

Not effectively though . I wouldn't mind betting that whilst nominally out left, he didn't stay there. City are more fluid on that front.

 

[Rlburnside]

Alright am gonna stick my neck out and say most posters picking there teams are wrong and have missed the point It don’t matter who to pick.

THE SYSTEM SOUTHGATE PLAYS IS WRONG.

It don’t matter who you pick because Southgates tactics are atrocious. Look at the Spain v Italy game yesterday. As soon as Italy have a goal kick, and they had quite a few because of the chances Spain created there was a five or six man press. It was difficult for Italy to get out. What do England do. It’s a half hearted wrong press, easy to play against so England end up having to defend deep. To suggest others help Rice to defend for me is so so wrong. What other team does it in England. None, and yet we are talking about the worst manager in the tournament now being able to coach a team to play that way. It’s just not happening.
Look at how England play from a goal kick, they struggle to get out from a press. Why? Because after 3 major tournaments we have not become natural and developed a system. We are going backwards. Again look at the Spanish and Italians and others how quick they can move the ball. It is pedestrian for England.
What the hell was Kane doing that deep when he gave the ball away for the Denmark goal. It is atrocious coaching. He stays on the half way line with two defenders. That leaves 8 Danish players v 9 English and yet we cannot find an open man. Yesterday’s game was not painful because of the players, but because of what they were coached to do. But what were they actually coached to do. It was mind boggling.
Southgate is a coaching dinosaur and as Billyboots says in Spain. He has turned England into a laughing stock of world football.

I agree it’s not the players , we know the standard they can perform at, calls for dropping Kane is a knee jerk reaction and wrong imo, it wouldn’t be a problem with him if the tactics were different.

Astonishing Southgate saying he’s experimenting, that should have been done before we started the Euros.

I think it’s to late for the players to adapt to a different style of play even if Southgate realizes the way he’s setting up the team is wrong

 

[nickjdavis]

I’m not convinced with Gordon, if we are going to change that slot I’d go with Watkins or even Palmer.

Gordon can be a headless chicken at times and defensively suspect.

Why is it that we are concerned about the defensive capabilities of our left winger who's primary job is to create chances, stay high and wide up the pitch to stretch the opposition?

Surely we have enough defensive cover?

Whilst in his Everton days perhaps headless chicken might be a fair accusation (indeed I felt much the same when I heard we were signing him), since he has been at Newcastle, he is anything but, and the headless chicken mode has largely been transformed into a player with energy, work rate and end product...the first of which is sadly lacking by evidence of the first two matches.

Yes I obviously have a little bit of club bias here...but who doesnt?

 

[Orikoru]

Why is it that we are concerned about the defensive capabilities of our left winger who's primary job is to create chances, stay high and wide up the pitch to stretch the opposition?

Surely we have enough defensive cover?

Whilst in his Everton days perhaps headless chicken might be a fair accusation (indeed I felt much the same when I heard we were signing him), since he has been at Newcastle, he is anything but, and the headless chicken mode has largely been transformed into a player with energy, work rate and end product...the first of which is sadly lacking by evidence of the first two matches.

Yes I obviously have a little bit of club bias here...but who doesnt?

Even aside from his contributions, he's the only bloody left winger in the squad. If you don't play him it will be unbalanced no matter what.

 

[Bdill93]

Probably because we’ve got a striker with 31 non penalty goals in the squad who scored a total of 44 goals in 45 games.

My nan scores 20 in the Bundesliga.... also I could inflate Ollies scoring to be closer to Kanes by including his cup games (27) too but I'm not trying to get into a silly argument.

All jokes aside, he doesn't look fit or capable to lead the press, which we've all heard time and time again comes from the front.

Id rather a 100% backup than an 80% Kane myself -

 

[Orikoru]

My nan scores 20 in the Bundesliga....

All jokes aside, he doesn't look fit or capable to lead the press, which we've all heard time and time again comes from the front.

Id rather a 100% backup than an 80% Kane myself

Where has this rhetoric come from? At Spurs it was one of his strongest attributes. Has he forgotten how to press in one year? Why are you saying he's at 80%??

Like it or not, Kane is a far better player than Watkins, and he's also the captain, so Watkins won't be starting unless it's on the left wing. Kane is one of the best strikers in the world and one of the best English strikers of all time. Once again, I'm consistently baffled at the criticism he gets when he scores a goal in 2 out of 3 games for England.

 

[PaulMdj]

My nan scores 20 in the Bundesliga.... also I could inflate Ollies scoring to be closer to Kanes by including his cup games (27) too but I'm not trying to get into a silly argument.

All jokes aside, he doesn't look fit or capable to lead the press, which we've all heard time and time again comes from the front.

Id rather a 100% backup than an 80% Kane myself -

I rate Watkins, he’s hopefully our future CF for England, he’s just not Harry Kane though. For me he’s either alongside Kane or warming the bench.

Bundesliga teams did alright in Europe last season, is your Nan out of contract?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Lets be honest this campaign is a mess and a testament to Southgate's inablility. He has plenty of time to test systems and players and steadfastly picked Henderson, Maguire etc instead of planning for now and then doesn't take these two anyway and suddenly has no idea who fits where, who can do what and what style of system to play. Get through the group, go out in the next round and start again

 

[Orikoru]

Lets be honest this campaign is a mess and a testament to Southgate's inablility. He has plenty of time to test systems and players and steadfastly picked Henderson, Maguire etc instead of planning for now and then doesn't take these two anyway and suddenly has no idea who fits where, who can do what and what style of system to play. Get through the group, go out in the next round and start again

That's a great point. He earned some rare praise for leaving Hendo, Maguire and Phillips out, but he had relied on them right up until the tournament and clearly didn't think about his back-up plan. They should have been phased out during qualifying so he could play the players he was actually going to take to the tournament. Stating that he still hadn't found his Phillips replacement just made him look stupid and a laughing stock.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Bundesliga teams did alright in Europe last season, is your Nan out of contract?

If she is, let Sean know. We can get ahead of the competition

 

[AmandaJR]

From memory there is always talk of Kane looking tired and jaded in these tournaments. He does once again...he's never had pace but just looks worn out.

 

[PaulMdj]

Lets be honest this campaign is a mess and a testament to Southgate's inablility. He has plenty of time to test systems and players and steadfastly picked Henderson, Maguire etc instead of planning for now and then doesn't take these two anyway and suddenly has no idea who fits where, who can do what and what style of system to play. Get through the group, go out in the next round and start again

That's a great point. He earned some rare praise for leaving Hendo, Maguire and Phillips out, but he had relied on them right up until the tournament and clearly didn't think about his back-up plan. They should have been phased out during qualifying so he could play the players he was actually going to take to the tournament. Stating that he still hadn't found his Phillips replacement just made him look stupid and a laughing stock.

Without sounding like I’m sticking up for Southgate

That’s not been the reality, who knew Philips would have a shocking season and Henderson would fade away? At the same time look at who he’s brought in.

Mainoo - Injured the first 6 months of the season

Palmer - never heard off outside of City until this season.

Wharton - 1st good season.

TAA - Doesn’t play midfield for his Club.

So if you look at when we qualified these players weren’t available or ready.

So, imo, bit unfair to say he should of tried this during qualification.